SETTING THE STAGE
 No. 3 Notre Dame (0-0) will open its 2013 campaign Saturday at No. 4 Duke (1-1). Face-off is slated for 1 p.m. (ET) at Koskinen Stadium.
 Live video (membership required) and live stats are available at GoDuke.com.
 This is the fourth straight season that Notre Dame has opened its campaign against Duke. The Irish have won the previous three lid-lifters versus the Blue Devils.

BATTLING THE BLUE DEVILS
 Saturday will be the 11th meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Duke. The Blue Devils lead the series 6-4, yet the Irish are 4-2 in the last six showdowns.
 The two teams have met five times over the past three seasons. The Irish have won all three regular-season meetings, while Duke topped Notre Dame twice in the postseason, including the 2010 national title game.
 Notre Dame is 2-4 all-time at Duke. The Irish have won the last two meetings in Durham. The last time Notre Dame traveled to Duke the Irish came away with an 11-7 win in the 2010 season opener.

IRISH IN SEASON-OPENERS
 Notre Dame is 25-7 all-time in season-openers, including a 19-5 record in the Kevin Corrigan era.
 The Irish have won a program-record 10 straight season-openers.
 Last season, Notre Dame topped Duke 7-3 at Arlotta Stadium.
 The Irish last dropped a season-opener in 2002, a 10-9 overtime setback at home against Penn State.
 Including this year, the Fighting Irish have opened their slate against a ranked opponent in 20 consecutive seasons.

A LOOK AT THE IRISH
 Notre Dame returns eight starters, including five in the attack and midfield, and 20 letterwinners from last season's squad that went 13-3, won the BIG EAST regular-season title and advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship.
 Notre Dame's 13 victories were the fourth-most in program history.
 Two-time All-America honoree John Kemp is back in goal for his senior season. Kemp led the nation in goals-against average (6.27) and save percentage (.637) last season en route to first-team All-America honors.
 The Irish welcome back their top five goal scorers from last season. Attackman Sean Rogers, who returns to Notre Dame for a fifth season, led the Irish with 22 goals in 2012. Junior Jim Marlatt is back on Notre Dame's first midfield line after posting 19 goals and a team-best 12 assists. His 31 points also led the Irish.
 Senior Matt Miller and junior Stephen O'Hara return as starters in the close defense.
 Kevin Corrigan is beginning his 25th season as Notre Dame's head coach. He has a 230-109 (.678) record during his Fighting Irish tenure.

IN THE POLLS
 Notre Dame is ranked third in both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media poll and the USILA coaches poll. That is the highest preseason ranking in program history. The previous best ranking was when the Irish were ranked seventh prior to the 2011 campaign.

A LOOK AT DUKE
 Duke opened its season last Saturday with a 14-12 loss to Denver before responding with a 21-9 win over Jacksonville on Sunday. Both games were at Duke.
 Junior attackman Jordan Wolf leads the Blue Devils in goals (8) and assists (4). Senior Dan Wigrizer started both games in goal. He has a 12.8 goals-against average and a .367 save percentage.
 The Blue Devils went 15-5 last season (2-1 ACC) and fell to Maryland, 16-10, in the semifinals of the NCAA Championship. Duke won the 2012 ACC Tournament.
 Head coach John Danowski is in his seventh season at Duke.

COACHES CORNER
 Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan is 9-9 against a John Danowski-coached team. Corrigan went 6-7 against Danowski's Hofstra teams. The Irish head coach is 3-2 against Danowksi during his Duke tenure.

THE LAST TIME
 Notre Dame opened its 2012 season with a 7-3 home victory over Duke. That was Duke's first-ever visit to Notre Dame.
 The Irish fell behind 2-0 before scoring seven straight goals. The Notre Dame defense posted a scoreless streak of 40:24, which began at the 10:42 mark of the second quarter and ended with 18 seconds left in the contest.
 Max Pfeifer tallied two goals and two assists for the Irish, while Jim Marlatt added two goals in his Notre Dame debut. Goalie John Kemp made 14 saves for the Irish.

IRISH AGAINST THE ACC
 Notre Dame is 11-21 all-time against Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) teams. The Fighting Irish are 5-3 versus ACC competition since the beginning of the 2010 season.

FANTASTIC FEBRUARYS FOR THE FIGHTING IRISH
 Notre Dame is 15-1 in its last 16 games in February. Fighting Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan is 20-4 in the month of February during his Notre Dame tenure.

IRISH PICKED AS FAVORITE TO WIN BIG EAST
 With five first-place votes, Notre Dame was selected as the favorite to win the 2013 BIG EAST championship in a poll by the league's seven head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own programs.
 Fighting Irish senior goalie John Kemp was tapped as the league's preseason co-defensive player of the year.
 Kemp was one of five Notre Dame players selected to the All-BIG EAST Preseason Team. Joining Kemp as a unanimous choice were his teammates Jim Marlatt (Jr./M) and Matt Miller (Sr./D). Sean Rogers (Sr./A) and Westy Hopkins (Jr./A) also appeared on the 15-man squad. Notre Dame's five selections were the most of any school.

NOTRE DAME TO PLAY IN TWO INSIDE LACROSSE EVENTS
 Notre Dame will face Denver March 16 in the second annual Whitman's Samper Mile High Classic at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo. The event's first game will feature Loyola versus Air Force followed by the Irish and Pioneers.
 The Fighting Irish will play BIG EAST rival Syracuse April 27 at the Konica Minolta Big City Classic at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Princeton and Cornell will meet in the day's first game.
 Notre Dame topped St. John's, 13-6, at last season's Big City Classic.

ESPN EXPOSURE
 Notre Dame will appear on the ESPN family of networks four times during the 2013 regular season. The Fighting Irish will have three games broadcast on ESPNU/WatchESPN and one contest on ESPN3.
 The Notre Dame-Denver showdown on March 16 at the Whitman's Sampler Mile High Classic can be seen on ESPN3.
 Notre Dame will appear on ESPNU three consecutive weekends in April. The first two games are home dates with BIG EAST opponents Georgetown (April 14) and Villanova (April 20). ESPNU also will air the Notre Dame-Syracuse clash at the Konica Minolta Big City Classic (April 27).

BROTHERLY BOND
 Senior defenseman Matt Miller is joined by his older brother David Miller on this season's roster. David, a short-stick defensive midfielder, spent four seasons at Maryland and will use his final year of eligibility with the Irish. David played in 30 games with the Terrapins.

A DOMINATING DEFENSE
 Notre Dame is the only team in NCAA Division I to finish in the top five nationally in scoring defense in each of the last six seasons.
 The Irish led the nation last season with a 6.31 goals-against average. Notre Dame also ranked first nationally in 2009 by allowing a program-record 6.19 goals per game. The Irish were second in 2010 (7.53) and 2011 (6.57), fourth in 2007 (6.66) and fifth in 2008 (7.04).
 Since the beginning of the 2007 season (a span of 95 games), the Irish defense has limited opponents to seven goals or fewer 66 times. Notre Dame has held foes to four goals or fewer 16 times during that stretch.
 The Irish have allowed 10 or more goals just twice in the last 34 games.

KEEPING THEM DOWN
 Notre Dame's man-down defense ranked first nationally last season. That unit allowed just four goals in 37 chances (.892).

THREE IRISH PLAYERS EARN PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA ACCOLADES
 Notre Dame's John Kemp (Sr./G), Jim Marlatt (Jr./M) and Matt Miller (Sr./D) were selected as preseason All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse. Kemp was named to the first team, while Marlatt and Miller were selected to the second and third teams, respectively.

FOUR CAPTAINS NAMED FOR 2013 CAMPAIGN
 Seniors Quinn Cully (M), Ryan Foley (M), Matt Miller (D) and Sean Rogers (A) have been named Notre Dame team captains for the 2013 season. All four student-athletes are first-time captains for the Fighting Irish.

FOUR PLAYERS PICKED IN MLL DRAFT
 Four Fighting Irish players were selected in the 2013 Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Collegiate Draft. Seniors John Kemp (G), Matt Miller (D), Steve Murphy (M) and Quinn Cully (M) were picked in the draft, which was held Jan. 11 in Philadelphia.
 The Rochester Rattlers picked Kemp with the first selection of the fourth round (25th overall). Kemp was the first goalie nabbed in the draft. Rochester later selected Miller in the sixth round (44th overall). The New York Lizards picked Murphy in the seventh round (53rd overall), while Cully went to the Boston Cannons in the eighth round (62nd overall).

A PERFORMER BETWEEN THE PIPES
 Senior goalie John Kemp boasts a 25-8 (.758) career record to go along with a 6.52 goals-against average and a .616 save percentage.
 Last season, Kemp led the nation in goals-against average (6.27) and save percentage (.637) and was named to the USILA All-America First Team.
 He finished the 2011 campaign ranked second nationally in goals-against average (6.61) and fourth in save percentage (.602) and received honorable mention All-America accolades.

CONSISTENCY IN THE CAGE
 John Kemp is the third straight Notre Dame goalie to receive All-America honors. Kemp was named to the USILA All-America First Team last season after earning an honorable mention citation in 2011.
 Scott Rodgers earned third-team All-America honors in 2009 and was an honorable mention pick in 2010. He also was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2010 NCAA Championship.
 Joey Kemp, John's older brother, was a three-time All-America honoree at Notre Dame. He copped first-team honors in 2008 in addition to honorable mention accolades in 2006 and 2007.

HOME SWEET HOME
 Notre Dame is 40-4 (.909) at home since the beginning of the 2006 season.

A SUCCESSFUL STRETCH
 Notre Dame is 63-17 (.788) since the beginning of the 2008 season. That percentage is tied for third nationally. Duke also has a .788 winning percentage over the last six seasons.
 The Fighting Irish have been to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship four times in the last five seasons, including the program's first-ever NCAA title game appearance in 2010 and a semifinalist finish in 2012.
 Since the beginning of the 2010 NCAA Championship, Notre Dame has gone 27-7 (.794), with three of those losses coming in overtime.

IRISH IN THE BIG EAST
 Notre Dame has a 13-5 (.722) record all-time in BIG EAST regular-season play. The 2010 campaign marked the first season of BIG EAST men's lacrosse and the Irish posted a 2-4 record. Notre Dame finished second in the league in 2011 with a 5-1 mark. The Fighting Irish won the league's 2012 regular-season title with a perfect 6-0 record.